


Don't Say Yes

by sunsetmagnolia



Category: 5 Seconds of Summer (Band)
Genre: Almost Wedding, Angst with a Happy Ending, M/M, Song: Speak Now (Taylor Swift)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-11
Updated: 2020-06-11
Packaged: 2021-03-04 07:01:16
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,001
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24659551
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sunsetmagnolia/pseuds/sunsetmagnolia
Summary: Absolutely self indulgent, written at 2 am but I stand by it
Relationships: Michael Clifford/Calum Hood
Comments: 1
Kudos: 12





	Don't Say Yes

Michael had swept through Calum’s life with all the grace of a toddler learning to dance. One moment, he was standing on the sidelines at a high school dance, perfectly content with observing, and the next he was spinning around the room with a total stranger, feeling like everyone was staring but almost like it didn’t matter. Every moment together had been thunderstorms ever since. Lightning flashes caught in secret glances and rolls of thunder in hushed phone calls in the middle of the night. The rain followed them everywhere they went, soaking them to the bone until they felt as much a part of each other as they did themselves.

That’s why, years later, when he heard from a mutual friend that Michael was getting married, he thought it was a joke. First of all, where was his damn invite? Second, and more importantly, how was that possible? They had spent high school and a handful of years after that in a relationship that seemed set on existing as it pleased, on again, off again, and back and forth until they found themselves drifting apart. Never did Calum believe that they would stay apart though. It wasn’t unfounded that people called them soulmates, after all.

As he drove up to the entrance to a little trail in the woods, all lit up with fairy lights that would inevitably lead to some little grove of trees with white benches and even more twinkly lights, he found himself wondering what his plan was. It’s not like he expected to be able to get Michael alone for even a moment, and certainly not before the wedding. Parking the car and being careful to avoid the mud from the rain the night before, he had the thought that Michael was the least outdoorsy person he knew, why would he be getting married out here anyway?

Calum was not the type of person to walk into a party, particularly a wedding, uninvited, but he snuck in anyway, glancing over the groomsmen as he took a seat in the back row. He only recognized one of them, which did make Calum feel a little better, knowing he wasn’t the only one of their friends who didn’t make it into the wedding party. Although he did see some familiar faces closer to the front of the crowd. Before long, a pianist – how did they manage to get a piano into the woods? – started playing a brooding wedding march, and the bride walked up the aisle. Calum hid his face until she was past him. She was beautiful, he supposed, but she looked more prom queen than blushing bride. He sat back down with the crowd and listened as the happy couple went through the motions, not failing to catch the slight hesitation on Michael’s face as he stepped forward. Someone who didn’t know him as well as Calum did might have mistaken it for pre-wedding anxiety. Calum knew better.

“If anyone has any reason to object to this union, speak now or forever hold your peace.”

Calum stood up slowly, hands shaking, the silence deafening as what was usually a moment of obligatory pause stretched out like the calm before the storm. Michael immediately locked eyes with him, surprised to see him there but also, if the soft edge to his wide-eyed expression was anything to go by, the slightest bit relieved. Someone in his row started to say something to him, but was quickly hushed. Calum took a deep breath, feeling like he was going to throw up. “You shouldn’t marry her.” A couple gasps from people who apparently expected him to be speaking to the bride instead. “You can’t, she’s not right for you.” Flurries of whispers from people all around wondering who he was, plus one of his old friends in the front row watching it unfold with his hands covering his mouth like he was watching a movie. And then there was Michael, looking increasingly less sure of himself but staring unblinking into Calum’s eyes like a magnet to polar north. Calum could feel his heartbeat in his throat. He held his breath waiting for a response, from anyone, but everyone stayed silent and still, the most judgmental painting. Calum, gaze unbreaking, pushed his chair back and ran out, away from the lights and into the trees, until he could no longer hear the murmurs of the crowd, nor the individual words of anyone who was loud enough to be heard from so far away.

He found a tree to lean against as he felt the weight of his impulsiveness crash down onto him. Of course Michael wasn’t going to walk away from his own wedding, and now Calum had only proved them right, that they had a good reason for not inviting him. He refused to cry here, in the woods, twigs poking at his ankles from all the branches that had been knocked down by the storm the night before. Taking a shuddery breath, he started to walk back in the direction of the path that would lead him back to his car.

“Calum!” He heard his name being called behind him, but he was far too close to breaking down to turn around and face whatever he’d just done. “Calum, wait!” Michael? He turned around and was slammed with a hug, arms wrapping around his neck like they were made to fit. Calum wrapped his arms around Michael’s waist in response, squeezing tight with no intention to let go. “You’re right,” Michael mumbled into his neck with a little sniff. Calum couldn’t stop himself any longer. He felt the tears running down his cheeks in steady streams before he even realized he was crying.

“About what?”

“For me.” Michael pulled back from the hug, grabbing Calum’s face in both hands and kissing him fiercely. “You’ve always been the only one.”

Once again, Calum’s heart was in his throat, but this time it felt more like flying. “So?”

“Be my runaway?”


End file.
